About Paul Williams:

Meet Paul Williams, an amazing veteran who served in the RAF for many years! Paul suffers from severe hearing problems which require dedicated support and care. Suffering from mild- severe hearing loss on the right ear and a moderate mixed loss on the left. Mr Williams also suffers with a history of infection in his left ear, which makes his ear considerably more delicate and is hard to treat, due to the high infection risk.

The effects of his hearing loss:

Due to the substantial loss of sound across all frequencies, complex listening environments are hard for Paul to socialize in. This is the case especially when there are competing background noises or when hearing is required over a long distance. It is often the case where sufferers of this condition start to avoid complex listening environments, leading to social isolation. Activities as simple as watching TV or having a conversation over the phone become very difficult. TV volumes having to be increased too high for normal hearing individuals. Also, not understanding phone calls due to no visual ques whilst speaking over the phone, are an issue.

In Mr William’s specific case, he finds difficulty speaking in a group, feeling left out when family members are speaking among each other. Even with an NHS hearing aid in his right ear, Paul finds listening very difficult. Struggling with many social situations, such as travelling in the car make many aspects of his life hard to manage.

Hearing Assessment:

Paul was referred to Hear4U where he was seen by a qualified audiologist to be tested. The testing was crucial to determine the type of hearing aid needed for Paul. They arrived at the conclusion that Paul should be fitted with the Phonak Audeo Marvel M90 hearing aid in his right ear. Unfortunately a fitting to the left ear was not possible due to the risk of infection.

This hearing aid will provide Paul with the ability to hear clear and rich sound. When wearing the system Paul will find himself taking part within conversations with ease, thanks to the Autosense feature which will constantly analyse and automatically adapt to any listening situation. Phone calls will now be a breeze for Paul due to the Bluetooth capabilities allowing for hands free calls. Generally he will have access to speech sounds that he struggled to hear previously, providing better intelligibility and less listening effort